This invention relates generally to a pre-school teaching device or game which exploits both the olfactory and visual senses, and more particularly to a device provided with a playing board on which is pictured a variety of objects having characteristic odors, each pictured object having a socket therein adapted to receive a smell-producing element and to visually indicate whether or not the element inserted therein gives off an odor which is that normally exuded by the related object.
Smell is that special sense which enables an individual to perceive and distinguish the odors of various substances or objects. The organ of smell is made up of olfactory cells situated in the mucous membrane of the upper portion of the nasal cavity. The hair-like free ends of the cells are stimulated by odors and scents entering the nasal cavity, the nerve fibers of the cells sending impulses through the nervous system to the brain where the odor or scent is registered.
The sense of smell in modern man has been dulled by various factors such as excessive smoking and drinking; but pre-school children remain highly responsive to odors. Taste is often confused with smell and in many instances substances supposedly tasted are without taste and are really smelled. This may account for the sharp reaction of children to unpleasant medicines which adults find less disagreeable. Yet the olfactory sensitivity of pre-school children, which is far greater than that possessed by most adults, is rarely exploited in educational or play activity.
In dealing with pre-school or primary school children there is no clear line of demarcation between play and teaching activity, for teaching is best carried out in a play or game mode. For example, in teaching a child the relationship between objects and words, one can create a game in which the child is asked to match word-bearing cards with pictures of objects. Thus in the game disclosed in the patent to Aberge et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,214, the word "milk" is associated with a picture of a milk bottle, and the word "frog" with a picture of this animal.
The concept of matching underlies many of the teaching devices and games designed for pre-school children. Thus the patent to Levin, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,349,503, matches up objects and colors. Albee, 2,659,163, matches up geometric shapes with colors; while White, 3,715,816, matches up animals with their natural food. The patent to Ladd et al., 3,570,139, discloses a book made up of sheets having coatings thereon which when scratched give off particular odors. In Ladd, after a coating is scratched and smelled, the player places a picture of a selected object such as peppermint candy against the scratched coating which the player believes gives off the odor of the object.
But lacking in the prior art is a game, puzzle or educational device in which odor, color and geometric form are coordinated in a selective matching procedure having a high degree of play and educational value.